As a critic, I try to remain impartial. But, truth be told, I’m proud of the Bay Area food scene. I travel to different cities four or more times a year and I’m always trying to keep an open mind as I check out the restaurants locales in Cleveland, Miami or Santa Fe that people are talking about.

It’s clear that what’s being produced from city to city has been elevated in the last few years. It’s rare, however, that I’m envious and wish a restaurant in another city would call the San Francisco Bay Area home. I felt a pang of jealousy when I went to Zahav in Philadelphia and O Ya in Boston, but few places make me want to move to that city to be close to that restaurant.

Nancy Silverton’s Chi Spaccamade me want to call Los Angeles home. I felt the same way about her neighboring Mozza, which is still the pizza I hold up as the best. Chi Spacca is like a more rustic version of Cotogna, and it’s the third concept on the corner of Melrose and Highland — Mozza, Osteria Mozza and, now, Chi Spacca, which also has a take-out component.

The restaurant has a grill that faces the dining counter, so instead of working with backs to the customers, chef Chad Colby and his crew are center stage managing the flames and shepherding the meat. They grill 42-ounce porterhouse ($175), the same size Tomahawk pork chop ($80), and one of the dishes that made me a convert: Heritage Pork “Segreto” ($28) which means “secret cut” because it’s located in the area just behind and at the top of the front legs. It is practically as juicy as Wagyu beef and it’s simply served with arugula, which helps to cut the richness of the meat.

The marble-faced wood-fired oven also is used to roast Jidori chicken ($26) rubbed with a spicy mixture and served on a thick slice of bread that soaks up the juices. It’s a meat-centric menu — there’s a good stock of house-made lardo, salami and pates — but one of the prides of the restaurant is the focaccia di recco ($18) a kind of flaky pizza that has a rich crust, a layer of stracchino cheese and a top crust that has the delicate flakiness of puff pastry. It’s a specialty of little hill town near Genoa, and Silverton worked for two years to master the technique. It, too, is a must-order item.

The produce is as immaculate as the meat, whether it’s squash blossoms ($12) plumped with ricotta and roasted in the oven with a fresh tomato vinaigrette, or a salad with both beefsteak and Sungold tomatoes ($16) with avocado, cress and bacon breadcrumbs. They also do creamed corn ($12), but the waiter explains that it doesn’t have any cream; it comes from corn milk that bolsters the corn flavor, cut with a generous dusting of black pepper.

Since Silverton was the owner and pastry chef of Campanile with her then-husband Mark Peel, you can expect proper desserts. She doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately we were so full we had only one: an apricot crostata ($9) with almonds.

It’s so good I think I’ll sneak down south later this summer for round two.